I had never been expected to fight my own battles before; the physical fights anyway. There was always someone to fight for me. Back on the caravan with my family, we constantly had at least five or six guards around to keep us safe. My parents didn’t have a caravan nearly as big as the one I’m traveling on right now with this group of people I found, so we didn’t need as many guards. If there was ever a time when the guards needed to take action, they would instruct me to go into my room, which was the car with all of my belongings in it, until the commotion was over. Fighting was one thing I have never had to do before, and death was certainly something I had never seen up until now.
Violence never even found my parents all that often. They have always been the kind of people to conduct smaller trades and stay out of the radar of bigger competition. They were never the most well-known in the business, but the people they had for customers were loyal, and never tried to do anything bad to them. I suppose, thinking about it now, that’s probably why the caravan was never pulled over or accosted by bandits. Mom and Dad knew how to stay out of trouble. I thought I did too, but I guess that’s one thing I didn’t pick up from them.
The caravan stopped moving about 9 hours in to our journey. It was hot outside, unusually so for an autumn day, and everyone was hanging on to their last nerve. It seemed that everyone planned on it being cold today and dressed in layers. At the time I remember thinking it was funny, since I was called out that morning about wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt that exposed my midriff, along with my fancy sun hat. I was stuck in the back of the line of caravan cars, making sure nobody sneaked up on the from behind, along with my traveling party. I was on the right side of the cars and wagons, along with The Librarian, Miles the veteran caravan bodyguard, and the last member of our crew, who preferred not to tell us her name. She had jumped up on one of the carts to get a better look at what was going on up front, and discovered that there was a box car from a train parked a ways away, which seemed to be owned by a group of uniformed men.
“They don’t look to friendly guys.” She said as she turned to look at the rest of us.
“Then we should try and get rid of them!” Miles exclaimed.
I froze in my place when he said that. Get rid of them? What could we do? “I don’t know, don’t you all think we’re a little out of our league?” Surely someone would agree with me.
“Come on Alice.” The Librarian said to me. “If we don’t do anything they’ll kill us for sure. You’ve been on a caravan before; don’t you know what happens to people like us against suits like them?”
"Yes, but-"
“Exactly." Miles cut me off, "If we fight them, we’ll have the assurance that we tried to do something about this.”
I didn’t know what to say next. I was startled by how readily they could disregard my concern. The Librarian was right, about me being a part of a caravan anyway. Starting a brawl was never something my parents would recommend though, and I wasn’t about to suggest anything but cooperation.
Once the men came by us, they started talking to the woman who never gave us her name. She told them her name was Sarah, with a little hesitancy in her voice. The uniformed men must’ve heard her stutter or recognized her from somewhere, because after she explained herself they stripped her of her weapons and instructed her to go to the front of the line.
“Alice, just say that she’s with you. They’ll listen to you if you’re part of a large caravan.”
I backed away from the Librarian. “Listen, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Alice, just do it.” She instructed me to go up to the guards and convince them that our friend was my guard and that I needed her protection. I approached the guards with The Librarian, but I froze at the sight of their weapons. What if this didn’t work? What if they didn’t believe me and gunned us both down? I couldn’t go through with it, and I could tell that The Librarian was disappointed. She did the talking for me, even though we both knew she was no good at it.
“I don’t know if you guards know this, but this is Alice Doucette!” The Librarian said as she pushed me forward. “She needs this woman that you’re taking away, because she is her hired bodyguard.”
I was right to have my doubts about this plan. The guards took it as an opportunity to capture more people, and made their move to apprehend us as well. This was the first time talking wasn’t the proper way to fix things for me. Once violence broke out I couldn’t do anything. Even though I had my switchblade, I wasn’t very good at using it for fighting. Miles was the first to make a move against the guards; swinging his sword and planting it firmly in to one of the guard’s shoulders. I fled the battleground instead of staying to fight. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. Now that blood stains the ground and Mile’s sword, all I can do is stand by and watch as everything unfolds, because my usefulness as a diplomat is lost here.
Violence never even found my parents all that often. They have always been the kind of people to conduct smaller trades and stay out of the radar of bigger competition. They were never the most well-known in the business, but the people they had for customers were loyal, and never tried to do anything bad to them. I suppose, thinking about it now, that’s probably why the caravan was never pulled over or accosted by bandits. Mom and Dad knew how to stay out of trouble. I thought I did too, but I guess that’s one thing I didn’t pick up from them.
The caravan stopped moving about 9 hours in to our journey. It was hot outside, unusually so for an autumn day, and everyone was hanging on to their last nerve. It seemed that everyone planned on it being cold today and dressed in layers. At the time I remember thinking it was funny, since I was called out that morning about wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt that exposed my midriff, along with my fancy sun hat. I was stuck in the back of the line of caravan cars, making sure nobody sneaked up on the from behind, along with my traveling party. I was on the right side of the cars and wagons, along with The Librarian, Miles the veteran caravan bodyguard, and the last member of our crew, who preferred not to tell us her name. She had jumped up on one of the carts to get a better look at what was going on up front, and discovered that there was a box car from a train parked a ways away, which seemed to be owned by a group of uniformed men.
“They don’t look to friendly guys.” She said as she turned to look at the rest of us.
“Then we should try and get rid of them!” Miles exclaimed.
I froze in my place when he said that. Get rid of them? What could we do? “I don’t know, don’t you all think we’re a little out of our league?” Surely someone would agree with me.
“Come on Alice.” The Librarian said to me. “If we don’t do anything they’ll kill us for sure. You’ve been on a caravan before; don’t you know what happens to people like us against suits like them?”
"Yes, but-"
“Exactly." Miles cut me off, "If we fight them, we’ll have the assurance that we tried to do something about this.”
I didn’t know what to say next. I was startled by how readily they could disregard my concern. The Librarian was right, about me being a part of a caravan anyway. Starting a brawl was never something my parents would recommend though, and I wasn’t about to suggest anything but cooperation.
Once the men came by us, they started talking to the woman who never gave us her name. She told them her name was Sarah, with a little hesitancy in her voice. The uniformed men must’ve heard her stutter or recognized her from somewhere, because after she explained herself they stripped her of her weapons and instructed her to go to the front of the line.
“Alice, just say that she’s with you. They’ll listen to you if you’re part of a large caravan.”
I backed away from the Librarian. “Listen, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Alice, just do it.” She instructed me to go up to the guards and convince them that our friend was my guard and that I needed her protection. I approached the guards with The Librarian, but I froze at the sight of their weapons. What if this didn’t work? What if they didn’t believe me and gunned us both down? I couldn’t go through with it, and I could tell that The Librarian was disappointed. She did the talking for me, even though we both knew she was no good at it.
“I don’t know if you guards know this, but this is Alice Doucette!” The Librarian said as she pushed me forward. “She needs this woman that you’re taking away, because she is her hired bodyguard.”
I was right to have my doubts about this plan. The guards took it as an opportunity to capture more people, and made their move to apprehend us as well. This was the first time talking wasn’t the proper way to fix things for me. Once violence broke out I couldn’t do anything. Even though I had my switchblade, I wasn’t very good at using it for fighting. Miles was the first to make a move against the guards; swinging his sword and planting it firmly in to one of the guard’s shoulders. I fled the battleground instead of staying to fight. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. Now that blood stains the ground and Mile’s sword, all I can do is stand by and watch as everything unfolds, because my usefulness as a diplomat is lost here.